Monday, August 11, 2008

The king's trophy


The king's trophy, originally uploaded by Randombassist.

There is a huge love of the king in Thailand, which is somewhat alien to me, and very disconcerting when you first arrive. His image is on every street corner, and many people wear clothing in his honour. In the cinema you are greated by the royal anthem where everyone stands to the king's honour before the showing. (For any of the Irish, this was described accurately by a friend of mine as a bizzare version of the Angelus).

I think it's interesting that he's such a focal point. For a country that has experienced much instability over the last 60 years, he has been a constant, so I think that's the main reason.

You're probably wonderng what that has to do with this photo; the trophy was blessed and presented to the organisers of the world debating championship by the king, which to them (and the winners) was a rare honour in Thailand. This is that trophy.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Weird, alright.

I remember in Bangkok there was also a banner (across a street) from local business owners with a message in Thai and in English. In English, it read "Our lives are worth less than our King's".

Weird.